In his first season at USC, Dupree has had a hard time getting playing time.But he scored 10 points against Stanford on Thursday, persuading coach HenryBibby to start him Friday night.

'It's been a rough year, I wasn't doing the things I was supposed to do,'said Dupree, who spent a year at a junior college to improve his grades.

'Coach Bibby wanted me to play a certain way. I had a reality check tounderstand.'

Dupree also had three assists, two blocked shots and two steals in 31minutes. Bibby decided 1{ hours before tipoff to start the sophomore.

'He's really stepped up his game,' said Brandon Granville, who had 17points and nine assists.

The loss ended a six-game winning streak for top-seeded Oregon (23-8), thePac-10 regular-season champion for the first time in 57 years.

'It did a lot of good to get us ready for next week,' Oregon coach ErnieKent said.

The Trojans (22-8) advanced to Saturday's title game against the winner ofFriday's late game between second-seeded Arizona and No. 3 seed California. ThePac-10 tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament,although six conference teams could be invited for the first time.

'SC is a great team. They've got a chance to go deep in the NCAAtournament, and so do we,' Kent said.